


Welcome Surprise

by DaughterOfDungeonBat



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Universe Alteration, not compliant with Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8567101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughterOfDungeonBat/pseuds/DaughterOfDungeonBat
Summary: Yusuf has been searching for Altair's secrets for ten months. Ten months of traveling, ten months with only Ezio for company, ten months away from his wife. Little does he know the shock he is in for when he returns home.Claudia left something out of her letters, or so it seems.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HvitRavn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HvitRavn/gifts).



Yusuf threw himself from the carriage the moment the city came into view, tucking and rolling to avoid injury and flying across the ground towards the villa. He heard nothing of Ezio’s groan of frustration.  
“Claudia!” Yusuf screamed the moment he saw her, not caring for the heads he turned because how could he possibly when he hadn’t seen his wife in nearly a year. “My Claudia!”  
And dear heaven she was beautiful, her red dress and dark hair streaming behind her as she ran to Yusuf, her skirts hiked up around her ankles and her eyes bright.  
Yusuf was knocked flat on his back when they met, Claudia leaping into his chest with more force than he had anticipated. The air is knocked from Yusuf’s lungs when he violently met the street below, but he cannot find it within him to care with Claudia’s arms around his neck and her hair in his face.  
“Mio caro…” Claudia said, and Yusuf almost cried. He wrapped his arms around her back to pull her even closer.  
“I have missed you so dearly, sevgilim.”  
There was a precious moment of stillness, of silence, of the reunited lovers reveling in their closeness, breathing in the scent of the other and feeling the long-missed heartbeat of their beloved.  
Claudia untangled herself from her husband to look him in the eye, chewing the inside of her lip with an unreadable expression.  
“There is something I must show you.” She said, pulling Yusuf to his feet and leading him back towards the villa. Yusuf was not about to argue and followed obediently, weaving his fingers with Claudia's, as if the thought of losing contact would prove fatal.  
Claudia seemed to grow more tense as she hurried into the villa and towards the bedroom that had been hers and hers alone for ten months, pulling Yusuf behind her.  
“Why all this worry, Claudia?” Yusuf laughed as she paused just before the doorway. With an uneasy shift of her feet, Claudia tried to smile brightly.  
“There… there is someone you should meet. Need to meet.” She said, and guided her even more concerned husband through the door.  
His concern and confusion only grew when he saw the crib by the window- a crib with something moving within.  
“Well hello there!” Yusuf said, his voice rising as he approached the baby cautiously, glancing back at his wife. “And who does this little one belong to?” Claudia’s hand found the small of his back as she pushed him gently towards the crib, the child within making small noises of protest. Noises that silenced when Yusuf leaned over the edge of the crib to look at the mystery baby.  
No- stopped when Claudia leaned into the baby’s field of vision.  
Yusuf glanced quickly at Claudia, who beamed down at the child.  
“…. Claudia?” his words seemed to break Claudia from a sort of trance; her face went red and tense as she bent to lift the baby into her arms. “Who is this child?”  
“Come here.” She said instead of answering, pulling Yusuf close to her side until they held the child together, each with one arm under the bundle of blankets, and stood cheek-to-cheek. For the first time, the baby stared at Yusuf, clear blue eyes wide.  
“I want you to meet your daughter.”  
Time seemed to come to an abrupt and violent halt. Yusuf’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, though not a sound was made. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked between Claudia and the baby, for the first time noticing her dark, curly hair and the familiar slope of her nose.  
“W-what?” Yusuf stammered. With a teary-eyed smile and a nod, Claudia brushed a hand over her husband’s cheek.  
“She’s yours, Yusuf. She’s ours.” She said softly as Yusuf’s wide eyes drifted back to the little girl.  
“You didn’t tell me…” he breathed, prompting the softest of laughs from Claudia.  
“How could I write this in a letter?” Yusuf heard Claudia, though he could not drag his eyes away from the baby, from his daughter. Her tiny face stretched into a yawn, and Yusuf could not stop the high-pitched noise from the back of his throat. “Would you like to hold her?” It took Yusuf a few long moments to register Claudia’s words, and when he did, his breath caught in his chest, right next to a sudden spike of fear.  
“Yes, yes of course yes- but what if… what if I drop her?”  
“You won’t. Sit down.” Claudia took the baby in one arm and guided Yusuf to the edge of the bed. She positioned Yusuf’s stiff arms and gently passed the slight but warm weight of their daughter to him.  
The little girl stared up at Yusuf from where she was nestled against his chest, and the assassin wept.  
“Hello little one…” he whispered, tears streaming down his face, “You’re beautiful, just like your mama, you know that? My little…” Yusuf suddenly tilted his head in alarm. “Claudia, Claudia I don’t know her name. I don’t know my own daughter’s name.”  
“Shhh…” Claudia ran a hand through her distressed husband’s hair and sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and brushing a single finger over the baby’s curly hair that already showed hints of the unruly mess it would become when she got older.  
“Her name is Giovanna, after my father.” She said, not looking away from the tiny blue eyes that remained glued to her face. “I hope you don’t mind.”  
“Of course not. It’s perfect. She’s perfect.”  
And she was.  
Giovanna had her father’s blue eyes, and his mess of black hair. Already, though, she looked like her mother, with her delicate nose and round face. She snuggled into her creamy blanket, blinking sleepily as her little limbs wriggled.  
Yusuf had not known, before that moment, that it was possible to love something as much so instantly as he loved Giovanna. It was nothing like his affection for Claudia, which had built slowly over time into a deep adoration. This feeling ached in his chest the moment Giovanna met his eyes, and it was terrifying. He realized, in that moment, that he would do anything for her.  
Yusuf welcomed the feeling.


End file.
